Page 13 of Merciless

CHAPTER 6

EDEN

DAY 1 OF THE BET

“They’re wrong, you know.” Rome’s words have replayed in my head since last evening. Even while I was supposed to pay attention in class, I couldn’t stop thinking about how they struck a nerve.

I know I’m not what everyone says, but hearing someone say it out loud pins the truth to my core.

I’m not a slut or a whore. I’m not a freak. And I’m not disgusting. I’m not whatever anyone says that’s negative.

My shoes slap against the pristine floor as I rush toward my next class. One that I’m very much late to, thanks to Lavender, my albino hognose snake. She hid in her enclosure, and I ended up spending my lunch break looking for a non-missing snake.

It’s been a rough twenty-four hours.

While Rome’s reassurance swirls in my mind, it’s not enough to shake away the text message from the unknown number. They sent me two last night, each one worse than the last.

Not surprising. They always send multiple texts in a day, letting me know how terrible I am.

I must be a masochist, because I pull my phone from my skirt and read the messages from the unknown number.

Unknown Number

Is this you?

*attached image*

The picture is of me bent over to pick up a dead bird. I don’t know when it was taken because I’m always rescuing the corpses. But it’s not the bird they’re focused on. The angle of the image zooms in on the white underwear peeking beneath my skirt.

I huff and close out of the thread.

How immature of them.

In my rush, I shoulder-check a guy walking in the opposite direction.

“Hey, freak! Watch where you’re going.”

I mumble an apology and jog away before he does something to make me pay for bumping into him.

Five minutes late, and I just know Mr. Thorn will flay me alive in front of everyone. It’s an art class, not science. I’m only taking the class because I need the credit.

I swing the door open and rush inside, right before I slam into a petite body.

“You stupid bitch,” Katie screeches.

I sink back and raise my gaze to her face.

Katie shakes out her hands and glances at the large brown stain on the uniform shirt beneath her golden jacket. It turns the white material see-through.

Fuck.

Katie lifts her head and settles her glare on me. She bares her teeth in a snarl as she takes a menacing step toward me.

I inch backward.

“Are you going to apologize?” she growls. “Or are you going to keep staring at me like an idiot?”

“Sorry.” I shrug. “It’s not like I did it on purpose.”